Further, it was
shown that the mayor could not have read the note-book on receiving it
from Maddalena Pietri, on account of the darkness, and it was proved
that he had not stopped an instant before he went into his house, that
the sergeant of the gendarmes had gone there with him, and had seen him
light a lamp and put the note-book into an envelope which he had sealed
before his eyes.
When this officer had concluded his deposition, Colomba,
half-distracted, cast herself at his feet, and besought him, by all he
held most sacred, to say whether he had not left the mayor alone for a
single moment. After a certain amount of hesitation, the man, who was
evidently affected by the young girl's excitement, admitted that he had
gone into the next room to fetch a sheet of foolscap, but that he had
not been away a minute, and that the mayor had talked to him all the
time he was groping for the paper in a drawer. Moreover, he deposed that
when he came back the blood-stained note-book was still on the table, in
the very place where the mayor had thrown it when he first came in.
Monsieur Barricini gave his evidence with the utmost coolness.
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